During the practice
of self-observation, it is useful to examine the quality of our strongest
loyalties. For the flame of loyalty is made of affinity, and one naturally
tends to be loyal to that with which, or those with whom, one identifies
oneself.

Are we, by any chance, instinctively loyal to outer
shells and personalities? To passing, selfish desires? Or perhaps to
bureaucratic and ritualistic structures? And, how do we handle the fire of the
conflicts between different orders of loyalty and commitment in our lives?

These are not easy questions to answer, and the evolution
of the theosophical movement faithfully reflects the contradictions of human
soul. Its inner history reads like a play by Shakespeare. Loyalty and treason
are both easy to find in it.

Understanding the struggle between
these two trends leads one to a transcendental view of human life and of the
drama of the soul divided between Spirit and Matter. The fruits of such a
constant “conflict” are directly related to the state of one’s own Antahkarana,
the bridge or the Jacob’s ladder between spiritual “celestial”
soul and the lower “terrestrial” principles of consciousness.

When one looks deeply enough at the question of
loyalty versus treason in the esoteric movement - as in any nonprofit
organization -, one sees that perhaps the main conflict can be better
described, not as a choice between loyalty and its opposite, but as a choice
between loyalty to that which is elevated and loyalty to that which belongs to
the lower levels of Nature.

For facts show that even a “dishonest” people is
usually most “loyal” to his own dreams of apparent greatness, or to his pet
fancies of personal happiness; he is disloyal to nobler feelings, out of
loyalty to the lower ones.

The main question to ask ourselves, then, is not
whether we are loyal people. Everybody is more or less loyal to something,
since everyone follows his or her own affinities. Instead, the question to be
asked is probably:

“To what, and to whom, are we truly loyal in our
hearts?”

And also:

“Are we honest with ourselves, with our higher souls
and the principles of universal truth and ethics?”

In his play “Hamlet”, Shakespeare wrote these
axiomatic lines:

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the
night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” [2]

As to loyalty to impersonal principles, a Master of
the Wisdom wrote in 1884:

“However little we might care for personal
subserviency to us, the accepted leaders of the Founders of the Parent
Theosophical Society, we can never approve or tolerate disloyalty in any member
of whatsoever Branch to the fundamental
principles represented by the Parent Organization. The rules of the
mother-body must be lived up to by those composing its Branches; provided of
course, that they do not transcend the three declared objects of the organization.”
[3]

The original organization of the movement ceased to
exist soon after H.P. Blavatsky’s death. The various Theosophical Societies
radically changed their rules, while the United Lodge of Theosophists has no
formal structure whatsoever - except a commitment to the original theosophy.
The movement is still young thanks to its outer diversity. On the other hand,
its fundamental principles are precisely the same in the 21st century as they
were in 1884.

Honesty towards one’s own conscience and respect for
universal principles keep the theosophical movement alive and make humanity go
ahead in its evolutionary journey. And this, of course, transcends personal
attachment to any courtesy rules, rituals or social position.

Universals do not change with the passing millennia,
nor does loyalty to the principles of truth. The torch with the fire and light
of Honesty gets transferred from one generation to the other, as from each
incarnation to the next one.

NOTES:

[1]“Gita the Mother” (The “Dnyaneshwari”), by Dnyaneshwar
Maharaj, translated into English by Manu Subedar, Kalyani Publishers, New
Delhi, 1972, 318 pp., p. 96.

In September 2016, after a careful analysis of the state of the
esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to form the Independent Lodge of Theosophists,
whose priorities include the building of a better future in the different
dimensions of life.